


Occultation

by Lkcsi



Series: Radiant Stars [12]
Category: Tales of Vesperia
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-20
Updated: 2020-11-20
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:00:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27641767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lkcsi/pseuds/Lkcsi
Summary: Flynn deals with the issue of Sodia and what she did to Yuri. However, it is not without a cost.
Relationships: Yuri Lowell/Flynn Scifo
Series: Radiant Stars [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1737949
Comments: 1
Kudos: 24





	1. Chapter 1

Two days ago, Flynn was finally promoted to  _ true _ Commandant, no longer just in an  _ acting _ position. Two days ago, Yuri finally said 'yes'. Two days ago was the best and happiest day of his life. However, all happy days end. Much of the high of his life's biggest success yet and of his love's acceptance of him had already worn off, leaving only contentment. He was in happy spirits, even though the paperwork trickled in like an avalanche and his advising counsel was yet to be properly assembled. Flynn had broken the tradition of having only one bosom advisor, and instead he'd convened a diverse group of distinguished knights and citizens from different fields that he knew he could trust.

That beautiful morning, he felt completely ready to tackle the true challenges of his position. Eyes would all be on him moreso than before, and judgment from the citizens and the government would be much more callous and harsh than when he was just the Acting Commandant. Now, he focused on dealing with the problems that he could finally solve with the power granted upon him, the still-fast asleep Yuri at the back of his mind but still bringing a dreamy smile to his face as he finally sat on his desk and began leafing through the pages that had been dumped on his desk.

An hour or two passed before the first knocks on his office door came, and he would have been glad to welcome a subordinate on a good day if not for the identity of the person knocking on his door.

"Sir?" A familiar voice came through the cracks of the door, and Flynn's blood ran cold. Cold with fear for the person sleeping in his room? Or cold with unbridled rage? Like a lead weight in water, his mood sank, even deeper when Sodia clicked the door open and dared to show herself in his office.

"Sodia," he said whilst keeping his voice and his expression as neutral as possible, even though his sight turned red with the knowledge that his closest knight confidant had tried to kill his best friend. 

His mind ran with questions thought with rancor—What was the reason for her to try and kill Yuri? Why? He asked himself these questions even though he had a nebulous idea why: Sodia idolized Flynn, who had always let Yuri go, who in turn murdered people who really did deserve it coming for them. Yet the fact still remained that it was a  _ reprehensible _ act, irregardless of his feelings for him. At the back of his mind, though, he raged at how she managed to show her face in front of him and act as normal as she could be right after her unjust crime. She only cracked once, and that was when Duke visited on the morning of Ioder's coronation and very cryptically implied to them that he had witnessed her almost murdering Yuri. 

Flynn thanked whatever force had compelled Duke to shed light on the biggest riddle of his life, but also cursed the fact that he had to deal with such a stab to the back. It wasn't just Yuri who was caught off-guard that day.

But he reasoned to himself,  _ he needed justice, not revenge. _ He had to lead by example, too—pursuing a personal vengeance would be unbecoming of him as a leader.

"I am here to deliver to you some reports collated past midnight last night," she said without any change in her tone as she always did before, "but none of them are quite urgent."

"Wonderful," he answered as he received the folders, consciously keeping his hand as far away from hers as possible, "what are these about?"

"Mostly only incident reports, sir. One talks about a polwigle invasion in Halure on the day after the coronation, which were taken care of by the knights and some civilians. The mages had taken up to using the new Splash arte to try and wash the slime out, but it only ended up flooding some homes with diluted polwigle fluids. Apparently polwigle slime smells like cheap booze."

She was expecting him to react with humor, as he once did before he figured things out, but it was simply so  _ difficult _ to laugh when the knowledge of her attempt to kill his most beloved Yuri hung above him like a dangled rotten treat. Nonetheless he still managed to say, "Send back a letter asking them how slimy flowers smell." Fortunately it elicited a chuckle of humor out of her, but upon hearing her laugh Flynn wanted nothing more than to send her away where he would never have to see her again.

"I'll write that letter on the double," she happily said, and started to leave.

"Before you go," he said out of an impulsive curiosity and perhaps a little bit of enmity, "could you please send someone up for a second breakfast? I'm sure Yuri would be up soon." He noted the tiny twitch of her eye and the shiver althroughout her body at the mention of Yuri's name. It was so unlike the balled fist, clenched teeth, and begrudging body language she used to show him before the incident on Zaude. 

"Of course. Right away, Commandant."

She left without any further comment. As soon as she left, he groaned and massaged his temples, calming the flames of fury stoked in his soul. Knowing his former right-hand person had almost taken his other half away cast a gloominess in his well-illuminated office that he could not stave away even with his work ethic and passion for his post. The unknown contract Yuri and Sodia had agreed upon without him in the picture complicated things further. He pondered on this dilemma for the next few minutes, only to arrive to the conclusion that his only option was to ask Yuri what he wanted to do with her. 

There was the sound of metallic clattering and whistling wheels from right outside his office, so he stood up to take the cart for himself. He then pushed the cart of food into his bedroom, and upon seeing his lover snuggled underneath the sheets and peacefully asleep, his bad mood lifted somewhat. Flynn sighed and went to his side. Yuri stirred at the sound of the metal platters being moved and the sensation of a weight dipping the mattress.

"Yuri," Flynn whispered into his lover's ear, "wake up. I got you a nice breakfast."

Yuri curled up and buried his face into his pillow. "Mmm..."

"Come on. Wake up now."

"Five minutes..."

"Come on. It's carrot cake."

"I crrn make be'er crrrot cake... thrrn snobbish nrrbles..."

"I know, darling, I know. You do objectively make better food. But please, let's eat breakfast together."

"Kiss. One kiss, and I'll wrrk up..."

It actually took a lot more coaxing and innumerable kisses to Yuri's cheek, hair, and neck before Yuri finally sat up, blankets pooling at his naked waist, and stretched his arms, back, and legs. While he yawned, Flynn took the opportunity to tickle his sides, making Yuri backhand him in the face.

"Hey!"

"Guess you'll just have to live with me and my pranks," Flynn said, the grin pulling his mouth so much it almost hurt. "This is just revenge for all those other times when we were kids."

"Oh, Flynn, Flynny-boy Commandant, I promise you, I'd be planning something a lot more bombastic than that if I wanted revenge on me and out-prank me for the rest of our lives." He tore a piece off of the carrot cake and popped it in his mouth, making his next sentence muffled. "Arrlthrrgh mrrbe not frrd poisrrning. Thrrt sucks."

"You should just give me ideas, then, because I thought of cooking for you first."

"For starters, think of something more than just tickling me while I'm yawning."

"Sure." Flynn smiled, before his smile quivered and fell away, alarming Yuri.

"Are you... 's there something wrong?"

Flynn only closed his eyes and took Yuri's hand in his. "Can we talk about something important we need to talk about right now?"

Yuri stopped chewing momentarily before swallowing, his earlier teasing mood vanishing in an instant. "What's up?" Barely a moment passed when he noticed that Flynn's gaze was fixed on the dark scar on his belly, bringing images of the bright blue sky in his eyes and the shock of a blade piercing through his flesh to his mind for a flash. He shuddered unpleasantly and covered it with an arm as he closed his eyes to drive the nightmare away.

"Ah... I'm sorry," Flynn said as he laid a hand on his partner's bare shoulder. "I know you just woke up."

"It's not your fault." Yuri opened his eyes and gave him a slight smile.

"I don't mean to ruin your happy morning."

"'S fine. We really should've discussed this as early as that time we met again in Aurnion anyway," Yuri admitted dryly.

"I know for a fact we have opposite opinions about this."

"Yeah, you want to punish her—preferably to kick her out or put her in jail—but I don't want you to, 'cause you need all the support you can get to stay here and do what you need to do."

"Here's the thing. I can't  _ trust _ her."

"Why?" Yuri looked genuinely baffled, flooring Flynn.

"She tried to kill you. And before you say crap about yourself, you were, and still are, my best friend. And it was thanks to you that I didn't stray away so far. And you are  _ not _ a lowlife _. _ " He made sure to stress it out so he could drill that into Yuri's brain. "You've got a good heart in you. You didn't deserve to be killed like that."

Yuri's expression turned unreadable for a split second before his eyes became glassy, shining with the beginnings of a few tears. He bit his lip before saying, "The same could be said of her, you know."

It was true, and the truth served to clear the haze of bitterness. She held on to beliefs similar to his and Yuri's. She was a good knight with a sense of real justice. She was compassionate, she was kind, and she was also willing to do the same things he and Yuri would do when innocent lives were in danger.

"You're right," Flynn admitted somewhat begrudgingly. "But can't we reach some compromise? I can't... I can't forgive her. I can't work with her anymore."

"We can't punish her and keep her in the Knights at the same time."

Flynn blinked, noting what he just said. "What do you mean?"

"I don't think we can reach a compromise here, Flynn."

"But I don't understand why you don't want to punish her for  _ almost killing you _ , which is-"

"A crime?" Yuri sneered. "I also got off the hook for actual murder, with dead people and shit. But now? I'm the Commandant's boyfriend."

"Yuri-"

"Just do what you want. I'm not the one with the rank. You are." He shrugged and then sighed in exasperation. "Even if I fight hard, it ultimately comes down to your decision, but it better not be a stupid one."

"I promise, I won't. I'll think of something."

Yuri's eyes softened. "That's my Flynn."

"I... also need to know. Why did you never tell me who attempted to kill you when I first asked about it?"

Yuri turned his head aside. "I don't say anything in exchange for her getting another shot at actually protecting you by your side."

"To protect me?" All of a sudden, he wanted to rip his hair off his scalp.  _ What kind of bullshit is that _ , he almost spat out, but couldn't get it past his mouth as he normally did when getting angry at Yuri. The regretful glint of Yuri's eyes kept his anger at bay, and he remembered that it was the morning and that he and Yuri had only begun their new romantic relationship just less than a week before. Having a fight not a week into their relationship sounded like a great way to flirt with disaster. Taking in a deep breath, then sighing out to rid his body of his bubbling temper, he reached out to touch Yuri's arm. When he didn't flinch, he inched closer and brushed long hair back to rest behind the shell of his ear. 

"Just... do what you feel you should. I've already told you what I feel," Yuri said in a slightly hard tone, but not in a harsh way as to be intimidating.

"What I want to do," Flynn started, "is to protect you, too. And you're right as well. She has to stay." Lack of evidence was Flynn's only reason, but not Yuri's. "Okay. From now on, can we agree on something?"

"What?"

"No more secrets between us."

"No more secrets," Yuri parroted, brows climbing a little higher before settling down. 

"Please." Flynn took one of Yuri's hands and kissed his knuckles. "If there's anything, like if there's something threatening your life like this, please. Let me know. I would also tell you anything I can tell you. It'll make things transparent between us, right?"

"And we don't need to fight with fists and swords anymore. Yeah, okay. Deal." Yuri wrapped his pinky around Flynn's, then bumped his forehead with his. "I'm all for trying communication." They both laughed softly when Yuri said that, nuzzling their noses together.

"I'm quite glad you're attempting to sharpen your communication skills."

"If it's for you, I'd do it. But now, go the hell back to work." Yuri planted his hands firmly on Flynn's shoulder blades and shoved him off the bed. Flynn made a show of staggering and scrambling for purchase on the floor, if only to make Yuri giggle. "More talk later."

"Will you stay the night again?"

Yuri threw his head back in his laughter. "I'm starting to think you're the type to like having a physical relationship."

"Maybe I am."

"Oh well. Not like I'm complaining." 

Flynn shot him a smile and leaned down to place a brief peck on Yuri's lips. "I'm going back to my office then."

"Go forth and do your Commandant-y work." Yuri shooed him away with quick flicks of his wrist.

Flynn's smile unfortunately fell off once he closed the door to his bedroom and returned to his desk. The melancholic mood returned, but at least his mind was less clouded by ire, now guided by a few words.

_ We can't punish her and keep her in the Knights at the same time. _

Yuri had said that in earnest. He'd really thought it was impossible. Flynn thought on that more, an idea slowly forming in his mind. 

_ But what if... _

He nodded to himself before retrieving a piece of paper, his pen, and his dry seal. Then he began writing.


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning came uneventfully, the night prior spent happily in Yuri's company. Flynn didn't have to wait for long until the knocks came.

"Sir, good morning."

Flynn looked up from his desk, somewhat annoyed that the freshness and good mood from his shower was spoiled by her presence. It took all his will not to frown visibly at her, but his brows still twitched at the sight of her.  _ It's not a good morning now,  _ he thought. "Yes, Sodia?"

"Here are the papers you may have missed checking, sir." She laid down a small stack on one of his desk trays. "Oh, and a letter did come back from Halure, sir. They said that slime-covered flowers were 'sickeningly fragrant'. It was like flowers, but with the stink of alcohol."

Now that was funny enough for Flynn to simper a little. If anything, he was thankful he had an excuse to laugh, just so he could act as 'normally' as possible.

"Wonderful. I'll work on these as soon as I can. And, if you please, Sodia, this is for you." Flynn pulled out a sealed envelope from one of his drawers and handed it to her. "Tell me what you make of this."

She immediately perused the envelope, furrowing her brows in surprise when she read the name to whom the letter was addressed. "This is for me...?"

The Commandant only nodded solemnly. "Read it."

She broke the seal and ripped the paper open to fish the letter out. Then, she sucked in a breath as her eyes went wide, brimming with tears. "Commandant, I..."

"Do you accept your new station?" He asked monotonously, disgusted at the elated tears forming at the corners of her eyes. He pursed his lips slightly.

"Yes, sir!"

"I am glad to hear that,  _ Captain _ ." He stood up, circled his desk, and then held his hand out. "Congratulations on your promotion."

Sodia was all too eager to shake his hand as she tried to stop her tears of joy. "Thank you, oh thank you, sir. I promise, I will do my best to fulfill my new role!" He allowed himself to smile at that declaration, and so he returned to his desk. Once seated he spoke further.

"As you would read in this official promotion, I want you stationed in Desier, seeing as it is the farthest imperial city from the heart of the Empire here in Zaphias. There is no one else I could trust more to handle this task than you."  _ Buttering her up's working, _ he thought for a second, noting how her posture straightened and her chest puffed up in her pride. "There is no one more fit for the job other than my former second-in-command."

"It honors me that you would assign me this task, sir, and I shall do it with full conviction."

"Good. Now go and get the papers moving. I've already made some arrangements for the formation of your own brigade." Somehow he felt the urge to stand, and stand up he did, and then faced the window to look outside. His arms locked themselves behind his back, and when he became aware of it, he thought darkly of Alexei and how he'd turned his back like this on him multiple times.

"Yes, sir!" She saluted with a smile in her voice, then she turned on her heel to march out with her letter and her happiness. 

"Sodia. One last word." He heard,  _ felt _ , her stop in her tracks and turn around. "Please."

"Yes, Commandant?"

"Would betrayal cross your mind?" It came out sharply, perhaps a little too sharply. It carried the same potent venom as the sting of a viper.

"I wouldn't, sir," she said, a little less jovial than she was a mere moment prior. "I would never betray you."

_ Liar _ . The abrupt heavy atmosphere of their conversation suffocated him. "Sodia, you must understand that as Commandant, I should fully trust my Knights first and foremost, but I know at least one of them would have been successful in murdering a civilian, especially when that civilian was someone I love." He paused to hear her suck in a heavy inhale, then he continued. "I vowed to myself that I would avenge Yuri if he truly died," he said, shaking a little with every syllable, "and it is only fortunate and lucky that he survived, so I don't need to do anything of the sort."

"... agreed, it is a stroke of luck..."

He abruptly faced her and looked her straight into her soul as scathingly as he could. "It could be anyone in the Knights. You were the one I trusted the most in my entire career as a knight. Now, I trust that when my eyes are not on you, you will do as you are assigned and expected to do."

In truth, however, he stopped trusting her, not when she already tried to kill Yuri when his eyes were closed. He was only truly doing this to get across the message,  _ 'I know it was you', _ without making it too overt. It seemed he was successful in delivering his message across, the tinge of fear in her eyes too strong for him not to notice.

"Can I trust you, Sodia?"

"Y-yes. Of course, sir."

"Then I fully expect you to perform your duty without a problem. You are dismissed."

As she left, his knees almost buckled, forcing him to stagger back to his seat. The rhythm of his heart was too fast for comfort to the point that it  _ hurt. _ The ache forced him to cough and wheeze. He bit his lip as he fought the tears pooling in his eyes. The faint click of the lock on the door of his private quarters briefly pulled him out, his hand falling on his sword by force of habit, then slacking when he only found Yuri standing at the doorway with a somber expression on his face.

"Flynn."

"Yuri..." The dam suddenly burst then, the tears streaming out of his eyes. Yuri didn't say anything, only taking his hand and leading him back to his quarters where he seated him on the bed.

"I heard what you told her," Yuri softly said as he sat beside him and wrapped his arm around his shoulder, allowing him to lean on his body. "You found a way."

"... I did."

"What are you feeling? Why are you crying?"

"It's just... I'm the Commandant and I can't trust my knights anymore... and that's  _ hard... _ "

Yuri exhaled on his hair, his breath warm and displacing the hairs on his head. Then, he moved to hug Flynn a little tighter and closer to his body. "You should take a break. Don't think about it for now. Just... rest for a little while, alright? I'm here."

Flynn let it all out then, sobbing on Yuri's shoulder and holding him tightly.


End file.
